Devils’ Hall in MVP picture

Now seems as good a time as any to talk about the MVPworthy season that Taylor Hall is having.

And it’s not because he entered Tuesday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens on a 25-game point streak. Or that he is among the top-10 scorers in the NHL with 30 goals and 72 points in 61 games. Or that with Patrice Bergeron injured — and Nathan MacKinnon on the outside looking in at a playoff spot — he has entered the conversation for the Hart Trophy.

No, the reason is because it’s March and for the first time in his eight-year NHL career, Hall is playing meaningful hockey.

This is new for him. During his time in Edmonton, Hall’s season generally ended when the calendar turned over into March. A year ago at this time, the New Jersey Devils were on their way to finishing with the worst record in the Eastern Conference while the team he left behind in a trade was en route to their first playoff spot in more than a decade.

This season is different. In the last two months, only Evgeni Malkin has been more productive than Hall. So the fact that Hall is not only on pace for his best season, but also appears headed toward his first-ever playoff appearance is proof that maybe the 2010 No. 1 overall pick wasn’t as bad a teammate as his critics made him out to be.

In fact, the 27 th-place Oilers could use a player like Hall these days — something that is not lost on him.

“I don’t know if vindicated is the right word,” Hall said in a conference call on Tuesday. “I always wanted to play on a playoff team. I’ve always wanted to be on a winning team, a successful team. For whatever reason, it didn’t happen in Edmonton. More so, I’m happy to be in that situation, I’m happy to be in a playoff race spotlight. That’s a fun place to be for myself after not experiencing that for my career.